About Us:
In 2017, our Founder, Angel Medina, began roasting coffee in his Portland apartment as a way to raise money and awareness for DACA recipients. This is where the story begins to take shape – one half-pound batch at a time on a tiny Behmor home roaster. After only a few months of roasting, Angel had found enough success selling his coffee to open his first cafe, Kiosko. By 2018 he had opened his second shop, Con Leche, just blocks away. Then, one year to the date of opening his first shop he opened his third, La Perlita, in Portland's Pearl District.
In the summer of 2019, he walked away from his cafes and his roasting business to pursue a greater understanding of the life of a Producer at the places where coffee was grown. Based out of Mexico City, he would spend days traveling by bus to small and remote producing towns throughout the growing regions of Mexico; Chiapas, Veracruz, Oaxaca, Colima, Nayarit, Puebla.
In January of 2020, he began producing a Docuseries on the topic. On March 13th of 2020 production came to a halt at the start of COVID-19 pandemic, a week later he made his way back to Portland in hopes of riding out the uncertainty of the times.
After only two weeks of sitting around, he decided he was going to find a purpose to start all over, from this sentiment Reforma Roasters was born.
A coffee company that encompassed all of the lessons from his time spent around Growers and Producers, and more importantly the people who work for them.
On June 2020, at the height of a devastating pandemic, Medina and his former employee (now business partner) Axel Villa, decided to re-open the doors to La Perlita. Within only a few weeks of being open, La Perlita became a favorite of the BIPOC community along with many other patrons who supported the values, beliefs, and intentionality of the tiny little shop.
After their great success that summer, Medina and another group of partners opened the doors to República, a Mexico-forward restaurant that fast became one of the most beloved restaurants in the country, earning a James Beard Foundation nomination as well as the title of "Top 10 Best New Restaurants" in the country by the prestigious Bon Appetit publication.
Since the official launch of República the group has gone on to open more Restaurants, Bars, and Cafes... all because of the intentionality and vision set forth by Reforma.
As founder Angel Medina would say "Con Todo Menos Con Miedo".
(give it your all, except your fears!)
“Con amor, y sin limites”
With love, and without limitations. That has been our motto from day 1. This is what has set us apart from our colleagues. It is because of this belief that our quality will never falter. It is because of this belief that our message will never be dull. Our story is one that is relatable to so many but only lived by few. Almost 5 years into our story and we continue to carve a path for those that share our background & seek their own journey.
On Sourcing:
Despite what you might have heard, we roast more than just Mexican coffees. Our unofficial mantra is "find the best coffees available within our budget and program, buy them, and roast them to perfection". Once in a while we get lucky and bring you some rare and coveted cultivars and varietals from countries like Ethiopia, Kenya, Colombia, Costa Rica, etc. Most of these coffees end up in our "Frutas Dulces", "Frutas Citricas", and the "Smalltime Blend" bags.
For the most part, however, a lot of what we are proud of is our direct relationships with the people who help us find some of the best coffee from Mexico.
Truly, Mexican coffee is what we do best, better than anyone in this country, for that matter. Yes, over the last few years, the country of many of our relatives and some of our ancestors, has experienced a sharp spike in popularity.
Indeed, finally breaking out of the long stigma of what many (mostly white) so-called specialty coffee drinkers believed Mexican coffee was; a chocolatey-nutty bland coffee used for more developed roasts.
Well, fortunately for us, we've been around long enough to know that Mexico was full of gems. The biggest difference now is that rather than sourcing nothing but gems or rare cultivars, we have established commitments that go beyond 2-3 bags. Over the last year (2021-2022), our little roasting company went through over 53 bags (160-165lbs each) of green coffee sourced from all over Mexico. This year, our forecast is to do 2.5 times that amount, all sourced directly from communities where we have established relationships over the past 5 years!
On Roasting:
We are not a "light", "medium" or "dark" roaster.
What we do is take great coffees from good people and bring them to the height of deliciousness by roasting each coffee according to its profile.
Some coffees call for light roasting and others call for a little bit more development. Truth is, we've never understood why so many roasters choose to create an identity where they roast all of their coffees the same... but that's why we are different.
Our approach to this craft is to identify what it is that makes each coffee in particular special. Most of this is done during sample roasting and quality control, something that we do here religiously.
From there, we bring out what makes that coffee special, giving you a range of roasts from light to dark (though we retain complex notes of chocolate in our dark roasts instead of notes of ash and sadness like most).
When you purchase a coffee from us that is described as “chocolaty, nutty, and dried fruit”, you’ll be able to taste that. Why? Because we have gone to great lengths to source the very best “chocolaty, nutty, and dried fruit” coffee that we could find.
On Specialty Coffee
We don't identify with the term "specialty" coffee. In fact, we don't consider ourselves a specialty coffee roaster.
Sure, our sourcing philosophy and quality standards reflect that of some of the best in this industry, but for us the label has always meant something different. For us it's always been just another modifier. A self-imposed title that many adorn on their brand, a way of doing the very minimum and often taking credit for more.